Granger Danger
by debaterarcherwriter
Summary: Eight year at Hogwarts brings many surprises to returning students...especially one Hermione Granger. Otherwise known as the "Draco has PTSD fic". Warning: Contains Troubled!Draco, Gay!Harry, Clueless!Ron, and tons of fluffy momements. Eventual Dramione fic. It's slow progressing, but rewarding! Read and review,loves!
1. Chapter 1

AN: Ok, so like an idiot, I forgot the password to my old account (debaterarchergirl), so here's the story I have been writing. I will be posting the next part soon.

A young man walked into the train station, looking around. His scarred face lit up as he noticed a wild-haired girl struggling with her trunk. He ran towards her.

"Mione!" he cried, fondly hugging the girl and smiling. "You look fantastic!" He was right. She now looked outwardly like the mature woman she was inwardly.

A pretty blush swept across her porcelain cheeks as she said, "Thank you, Harry." Noticing her trunk, Harry swept it up and set it on the platform. Suddenly, a tall boy with red hair and gangly limbs appeared, accompanied by his sister.

A small smile graced Hermione's lips as Harry ran to the red-haired boy, passed him and began to plant sloppy kisses all over his sister's face. Ron's face turned almost as red as his hair when he saw his best mate passing him up for his baby sister.

"Harry!" he protested. Again Hermione smiled. Ginny, Ron's baby sister, rushed over and hugged her. Her grip was surprisingly tight for having such small arms. Hermione linked arms with Ginny and Ron, Harry latching on to Ginny, and they all boarded the Hogwarts Express.

Standing there, watching the Scar-faced famous Harry Potter, the Mudblood Granger, and the Weasel, Draco Malfoy felt something he'd never felt before. Envy. Envy that they could just forget the war and be happy. They were on the winning side. Of course they could.

Draco could never forget. Especially that one night. It was seared into his memory forever...

Just as he was about to slip into the old memories again, he reminded himself of who he was. He was Draco Princeps Malfoy. He would NOT submit to weakness. He would carry on the famed Malfoy line and succeed his father in the buisness of cruelty.

Hermione wasn't listening when Luna, Neville, and Impleo Rusticus, one of Luna's housemates, slipped into their compartment. Instead she was thinking about poor Fred. The way his body had just thumped to the floor, the life gone out of his eyes instantly. His mischevious soul silenced forever.

"Hermione? Hermione!" Luna's dreamy voice pierced her sorrow. She turned away from the window, wiping a tear from her eye. Impleo was staring at her.

"Listen," he said, "If it's not a good time, I can go..." Sitting up a little straighter, Hermione swiped at the tear tracks on her face and said, "No, not at all. Please continue."

Swallowing nervously, Impleo said, "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to Hogsmeade the first weekend this term?" He plastered an obviously fake-confident smile on his face. Hermione thought about it. She thought about it some more. And finally, she decided.

"Sure, Impleo," she said. "I don't have to do anything that day." His smile softened a little, became more genuine as he said, "Thanks, Hermione. And please, call me Pleo-all my friends do."

With that, he pressed his thumb into the palm of her hand, gave her a grateful look, and swept out of the compartment, leaving Hermione with the curious sensation of having a date to Hogsmeade.

She smiled optimistically out of the window, certain that her life was taking a benevolent turn.

- Hello, my lovely readers! This being my first fic, you shall have to forgive me for any discrepensies. I am in desperate need of not only a capable and tolerable beta reader, but also someone who can make me a banner... I'm sure you've all read this type of fic before, (cliche nonsense) but I can promise you that the plot will thicken as the story progresses.

Dumdumdum...Well, as I cannot think of a single reason why I should continue talking to you brilliant readers and writers, Ciao!

P.S. Those of you who are interested in the beta reader position, leave an e-mail adress on a review. I'll have to warn you, though, I don't check my e-mail often...

P.P.S. Look up Impleo Rusticus on a reliable latin-english translation site. I think you'll be amused!

Love and cupcakes,

Artemis


	2. Chapter 2

AN: So, loves, here is Chapter 2. A bit ahead of schedule, actually. Oh, and for the reviewer that commented about Impleo's name last chapter: Yea, I know that now, I wrote that chapter two years ago and I'm just now getting back into the story, so there are some things that don't really make sense. Sorry about that.

Oops, almost forgot; I'm a broke ass highschool student that definetely doesn't own Harry Potter. Sadly.

Read and review!

When Hermione stepped into the Great Hall on her first day back at Hogwarts, she couldn't help but smile. Everything was as she remembered it, from the long oaken tables to the hordes of nervous little first years. It was almost as if The Final Battle had never happened. But she knew better. Her expression darkened as she remembered this very hall, destroyed and strewn with bodies.

Cautiously she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Hardly anyone she knew was awake yet, so she picked a spot near the center and pulled out her schedule. She was absentmindedly munching on an apple and checking her bag for class books when she felt two warm, moist hands clamp firmly over her eyes.

With a shriek, Hermione jumped, dropping her fruit. Whirling around, she planted her hands on her hips and glared at Ron, who was standing behind her, a smug grin plastered on his pale face. "Really, Ronald? Of all the childish, boorish pranks to play...And now you've made me waste perfectly good food."

She turned to pick up the apple so that she could throw it away. She gasped as she found herself suddenly looking into a familiar pair of grey eyes. It was Draco Malfoy, holding the misplaced fruit. He quite quickly wiped it off on his robes before extending his arm to offer it to her. Hermione carefully accepted it, vaguely hearing Ron's "What are you doing, Ferret Face?" Draco shot back with an insult, but his eyes never once left her face.

"Thank you," she said softly. He merely nodded in acknowledgement before striding out of the hall hurriedly. "What the hell was that all about?" Ron asked her, voice full of venom. She watched the slender figure dissapear into the crowd of people. "I don't know," Hermione said, curiousity itching at the corners of her mind, "But I intend to find out. "

Draco's knees buckled as he leaned against the wall of the loo, crumpling slowly to the floor. Of all the stupid, **_Gryffindor-brained_**things he'd ever done, this one had to be the worst. Just the sight of her face, eyes wide and wary, had brought back the terror.

He gasped in shock as the memories came rushing back, flooding his vision. Aunt Bella's face, wide-eyed with childish delight as she pointed her wand at the shaking figure on the ground, whispered "Crucio" almost lovingly. The screams, horrible and piercing as he tried to think of anything _but_ what he was watching. Her eyes boring into his, a "Please" escaping her bloodied lips as she lifted her trembling hands out to him. The awful, _wrong_ sight of Hermione Granger writhing on the ground in pain.

Hunched over on the tiled floor, he vomited copiously, shivering in disgust and weakness. It was several minutes before he could force himself to stand and leave the loo. A wide-eyed second year stood outside the door, obviously shocked at the sight of him less than perfectly put together, robes askew and stained, hair falling across his brow. "What are you looking at?" Draco snapped, plastering as good a sneer as he could on his face, and it must have been good enough, because the kid scurried away as quickly as he could.

He hurried to his first class, not even bothering to change his clothes. He was already several minutes late for Transfiguration, and when he arrived, McGonagal gave him a frosty look and a detention. He sat at the back, ignoring Pansy's waving hand, and schooled his face into the steeliest expression he knew.

Draco didn't pay one iota of attention all day. He floated through each of his classes like The Bloody Baron-silent and slow. He didn't go to lunch, and instead lay in his dorm staring at the ceiling and trying not to think. By the time only Potions was left, he felt like a caged animal, pacing the halls as if to look for an escape.

Potions went as well as could normally be expected for the first fifteen minutes; Severus droned on about the Gryffindors' absolutely horrid quiz scores, he got partnered with that girl that resembled a cow, Lavender Brown, for the basic antidote they were brewing, and Blaise traded him a pack of chocolate biscuits in exchange for a self-writing quill.

Then, everything went horribly wrong.

He was just stirring in some powdered hornet to the potion, when a loud _BOOM!_ shook the table and it exploded in his face, knocking him to the ground. Severus walked over languidly (albeit a bit quicker than he may have for a different student), took one look at his potion, and scoffed loudly. "Draco, what were you doing putting 3 teaspoons of hornet in with those orchid petals? You should know how volatile that amount of hornet is. You've made a mess. Do you feel any unusual sensations?" he said. "No sir." Draco muttered, unbelieveably embarrased.

With an exasperated sigh, Snape drawled, "Well, I'd better send someone with you to Pomfrey in any case. How about..Ms. Granger? You're done with your antidote, correct? You can go with Draco." His heartrate sped up and he stared pleadingly at his godfather, but the tall man simply assigned him a detention time to clean his cauldron and pointed to the door.

Granger followed him out into the hallway, keeping her distance as he furiously wiped rivulets of potion from his skin. Draco could tell she wanted to say something; she kept taking in small breaths and almost lifted her hand as if to gesture a few times.

"What do you want, Granger?" he used as bored of a tone as possible as they began to walk towards the Infirmary. "Oh, wait, nevermind, I'm sure whatever it is is just far too riveting for me to possibly know about. Please, don't waste your fascinating comments on me." Draco started walking even faster than before. He wasn't expecting to feel a hand on his elbow, turning him around with surprising force.

"Malfoy," she said, "Look at me." As soon as he heard her say it, he realized that his gaze was fixed on the bricks in the wall above her head. Granger's hand remained holding his arm in place while the other gripped his face, trying to turn his head towards her. "Look at me," she repeated, voice firm. "_Draco._ Please look at me."

Draco didn't realize he was crying until he felt hot tears on his neck. Hearing his former enemy's voice saying his first name seemed to break through some of the haze he was under, and he finally moved his eyes to her face. The first things he saw there were concern and compassion. "Draco," she repeated, as though getting used to the taste of the word in her mouth. "_Please_, tell me what's wrong."

He broke at that, shaking and letting out a strangled sob. His arms came up to wrap around himself, but Hermione was there first, enveloping him in a warm hug. "Hey, there." she murmured into his neck, "I'm here. I know we're not friends, but I'd like to be. You have to tell me what's making you this way."

The words were reassuring, and he found himself sliding down a wall for the second time that day, with Hermione Granger holding him as he cried.

AN:So, this turned out to be full of angst and feels, when I actually didn't mean for it to be. :O anyway, review please.


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